[Originally from Decius:] "Britney Spears is among the pop stars fronting a new advertising campaign aimed at warning people against online piracy." ... The TV adverts will be shown at a Congressional hearing on piracy in Washington on Thursday before making their debut on US screens a few weeks later. ... "We want to hit fans with the message that downloading music illegally is, as Britney Spears explains, the same as going into a CD store and stealing the CD," said Hilary Rosen of the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) ... [Hijexx's Commentary] piracy (from dictionary.com): 1. a) Robbery committed at sea. b) A similar act of robbery, as the hijacking of an airplane.
2. The unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material: software piracy.
3. The operation of an unlicensed, illegal radio or television station. I agree, begrudingly, that downloading and using copyrighted music does, in fact, break the law. That is not to say that the law is just (thanks to Walt Disney's palm greasing.) If all the RIAA can muster is Britney's Pears (sorry little girl, it's all about your tits, always has been) and Missy Elliot to preach to the masses, I'd say we have not a thing to worry about on that front. What is disconcerting to me is the Nazi style, Joseph Goebbels inspired propaganda being spewed by Hilary Rosen. Two times in this article the idea of an "unlicensed internet service" is mentioned. I am not making this up. Folks, there is NO SUCH THING as an "unlicensed internet service" in the context of peer to peer networking. It's a glorified telephone with theoretically unlimited conferencing abilities, that's about it. As Goebbels proved, if you repeat a lie enough, eventually people believe it. This is especially the case when said people are unwashed (dare I say brainwashed?) mass consumers. Moo. [I was just about to meme this article, but then I came to memestreams, and here it was. Someone sure missed the boat at the RIAA. I mean, having Britany Spears, Nelly, and Missy Elliot shake their fingers at me for downloading music isn't going to make me stop. Its going to make me change the channel while laughing. When are they going to realize that online music is a consumer demand these days, and realize that they are going to have to change something? - Nano] BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Britney's Pears warns against piracy | 
